Redeemer Blog

Posts Tagged with "sermon"

"The gospel, applied to our hearts every day, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God. The assurance of His total forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ means we don't have to play defensive games anymore. We don't have to rationalize and excuse our sins. We can say we told a lie instead of saying we exaggerated a bit. We can admit an unforgiving spirit instead of continuing to blame our parents for our emotional distress. We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. With the assurance of total forgiveness through Christ, we have no reason to hide from our sins anymore."...

I'm at a season of life where it seems like it's time to slow down. Nothing is working quite right anymore. I need glasses for aging eyes and anti-inflammtories for aging joints. I forget names and what commonly used household gadgets are called. Solitude invites me to steal away (which I enjoy doing at times!) while a growing family and new church lovingly require me to get even busier than ever. The commercials say Benny and I should be anticipating retirement after all the years of being in the throes of parenting and pastoring. Sometimes I envy those who can....

Bob reviews Joey's sermon from this past Sunday, "Friendship in the Age of Friending." It's the latest in our series entitled "Unplugged: Peace in the Digital Age." Joey explored what it means to have true, biblical friendships and fellowship in the age of artificial connections. ...

We are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Through the internet we have access to more information than we can ever apply, and the ability to share our lives instantly, most of us from our phone. Technology has made this possible. Yet there is no greater threat from technology than its power to distract us from our inner lives....

Pastor Benny began his message on Sunday by saying these are difficult verses because of how radical Paul’s message was. The Galatian churches were being affected by “men from James,” the Jerusalem church that James led. The Judaizers, whom James did not agree with, were saying, it’s fine and important to become a Christian, and yes, Jesus is the Messiah. But to be...

Benny Phillips continued Redeemer's Galatians series, preaching on Galatians 3:15-25 on Sunday. So far in the letter to the Galatians, Paul has a specific flow of thought: He has established that we are saved, justified and redeemed only by faith in Christ and not through righteousness of our own. Any careful reader (or listener) will inevitably have questions about wher...

If we assess the idea that â€œfaith alone in Christ alone by grace aloneâ€ is all we need for salvation, we need to evaluate this in the light of scripture. And we need to evaluate the Judaizersâ€™ idea that something more than Christâ€™s sacrifice is needed. Letâ€™s not be too quick to condemn them. They were trying to protect something good: Godâ...

Jesse began by talking about the concept of change. Turning away from unwanted behavior is something common to everyone. Whether it is silly habits, or more serious addictions, we all have aspects of behavior that we want to modify. 12 step programs abound for every sort of sin, addiction or compulsion. Many of these programs borrow from biblical wisdom in their approach, ...

In this passage Paul is at the heart of his argument in Galatians. There are only two ways to relate to God: either on the basis of law and your good works or on the basis of faith and God’s grace. The key phrase in Reformed theology is “Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.”...

On Sunday morning Pastor Benny reprised his excellent intro to the Book of Galatians by focusing on the Apostle Paul as a “freedom fighter for truth.” Judaizers from Jerusalem had come to the churches Paul had planted in Galatia making three accusations against Paul:
1. He was not an apostle.
2. He was not preaching the true gospel.
3. The gospel (of grace) he preac...

A man is working hard in obscurity. His intent is to work in obscurity because any attention was bad attention (or so he thought). But he drew the attention of the Lord, who came to him and instructed him that he would be used to rescue his people from their oppressors. The Lord filled the man with strength and bravery, and miraculously everything the Lord said would happe...